Shane Smith Has Questions
Shane Smith Has Questions is a dynamic, apolitical podcast hosted by Shane Smith dedicated to getting to the bottom of prominent instances of misinformation and disinformation while revealing the fascinating fundamental truths (if there are any?) of the most interesting and convoluted social and political issues of our time. For advertising opportunities please email PodcastPartnerships@Studio71us.com We want to make the podcast even better, help us learn how we can: https://bit.ly/2EcYbu4 Privacy Policy: https://www.studio71.com/terms-and-conditions-use/#Privacy%20Policy
Episodes
October 30, 2025 • 58 mins
Shane Smith sits down with Aaron Parnas, the 26-year-old lawyer, journalist, and viral political commentator who’s redefining how Americans get their news. Together, they unpack the collapse of public trust in mainstream media, the rise of social platforms as new journalism hubs, and how Gen Z’s relationship to truth and power differs from every generation before.
Parnas opens up about growing up amid political scandal, as the son...
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October 23, 2025 • 65 mins
Shane Smith sits down with Hollywood titan Barry Diller, the media mogul behind Paramount Pictures, 20th Century Fox, QVC, Expedia, and IAC, for a sweeping journey through one of the most remarkable careers in modern entertainment.
From his mailroom days at William Morris to creating the “Movie of the Week” at ABC, Diller recounts how failure, luck, and relentless curiosity shaped his path to becoming one of the most powerful figu...
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October 16, 2025 • 152 mins
Shane Smith sits down with Sam Harris, philosopher, neuroscientist, and bestselling author for a deep conversation about artificial intelligence, consciousness, and the fragile future of humanity. They begin with Sam’s early life and unlikely path, from studying English at Stanford to dropping out after a transformative MDMA experience that led him to India and Nepal, where he meditated and even served briefly on the Dalai Lama’s s...
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October 9, 2025 • 67 mins
Shane Smith sits down with veteran journalist Chuck Todd, former Meet the Press moderator and current host of Sunday Night with Chuck Todd, in a deep dive on the state of American politics and media today.
Chuck opens up about his decision to leave legacy media behind and reinvent political journalism for the long-form podcast era, why Meet the Press became “an aircraft carrier that couldn’t turn,” and how he rediscovered his vo...
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October 2, 2025 • 105 mins
Scott Galloway and Shane Smith dive into the growing tension in today’s society, exploring how economic instability, digital culture, and political unrest are shaping people’s frustrations and anger.
They analyze the rise of digital platforms, the deepening wealth divide, and the decline of traditional work structures, which have fueled a wave of anxiety and frustration. Galloway breaks down how capitalism’s evolution and the coll...
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September 25, 2025 • 106 mins
Psychedelics are reshaping medicine and culture. Ayahuasca ceremonies, ibogaine treatments, and ketamine clinics promise breakthroughs but raise hard questions about safety, tradition, and control.
Hamilton Morris joins Shane Smith to unpack the science, myths, and politics behind today’s psychedelic movement. He breaks down the promises of ibogaine clinics, the rise of ketamine in psychiatry, and the battles over MDMA research, s...
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September 18, 2025 • 58 mins
Drone warfare is changing the battlefield fast. Cheap swarms can overwhelm defenses, strike deep, and create new security threats—from war zones to stadiums. Add cyber attacks and grid probes, and the gray zone keeps expanding with no clear rules or deterrents.
Global power dynamics are shifting. Trump’s tough talk on Xi, Putin, and Kim clashes with stalled diplomacy and a rising China filling global gaps. With India tensions grow...
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September 4, 2025 • 86 mins
Johnny Knoxville sits down with Shane Smith to discuss the physical and emotional costs of his career. He reflects on the chaotic start of Jackass, the pressures of sudden fame, and serious injuries like concussions and an eye fracture that nearly ended his life.
The conversation covers his collaborations with Spike Jonze and Jeff Tremaine, the shift from MTV to feature films, and the political backlash that ultimately forced the ...
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August 28, 2025 • 93 mins
Shane sits down with investigative filmmaker and UFO researcher Jeremy Corbell to explore the most controversial and captivating subject of our time: Are we alone in the universe?
Corbell—known for his viral military UFO releases and his documentaries like Bob Lazar: Area 51 & Flying Saucers—walks Shane through some of the most compelling cases of unexplained aerial phenomena ever captured. From the infamous “Mosul Orb” to Navy en...
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August 21, 2025 • 47 mins
Shane sits down with psychiatrist and bestselling author Phil Stutz to unpack the failures of modern psychiatry and why traditional methods often fall short. They explore how Stutz developed The Tools after realizing most therapy wasn’t helping patients, and why action—not endless analysis—is the real path to change.
Stutz shares how experiences with anxiety, depression, and the fight against “Part X” informed his groundbreaking m...
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August 14, 2025 • 77 mins
Shane sits down with Liquid Death Founder/CEO Mike Cessario to talk branding, politics, and the power of provocation. They dive into how Liquid Death turned Internet hate into a billion-dollar water brand, why execution matters more than ideas, and how cultural tension fuels marketing breakthroughs. Cessario draws parallels between brand-building and political strategy, analyzing figures like Gavin Newsom, AOC, Trump, and Bernie Sa...
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August 7, 2025 • 101 mins
Shane and nuclear-physics prodigy Taylor Wilson on the past, present, and future of atomic science, how Cold-War close calls, and today’s aging launch warning systems, make accidental nuclear war scarier than a deliberate attack, why Russia’s hypersonic torpedoes and cheap Ukrainian drones both reveal the same uneasy truth: deterrence math is being rewritten in real time.
They dive into Wilson’s quest for radiation-proof bacteria...
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July 31, 2025 • 59 mins
Shane Smith sits down with Julian Kelly, Senior Director of Hardware at Google Quantum AI and architect of the groundbreaking Willow chip, to map out the next frontier of computing. Kelly explains how Google’s 100 plus qubit processors now complete benchmark tasks in minutes that would outlive the universe on today’s fastest supercomputers, why error corrected “logical” qubits are the last hurdle to practical machines, and which r...
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July 24, 2025 • 108 mins
Shane Smith sits down with Channel 5 and All Gas No Brakes founder Andrew Callaghan. They discuss Andrew’s hitchhiking origins, his first full-length interview with Hunter Biden and they unpack the rise and fall of All Gas No Brakes, the birth of Channel 5’s “global newsroom,” and why a single bad real-estate deal turned a Louisiana lawyer into the Q-pilled protagonist of Callaghan’s documentary This Place Rules.
Smith and Callag...
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When wildfires, homelessness, and immigration collide, Los Angeles becomes a focal point for America’s biggest debates. In this candid, hourlong sitdown, Shane Smith presses L.A. Mayor Karen Bass on everything from her controversial trip to Ghana during the Palisades inferno to the missing billions earmarked for homelessness relief. Bass pulls back the curtain on firedepartment missteps, why she fired the city’s fire chief, and h...
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July 10, 2025 • 52 mins
Rick Caruso breaks down the harsh realities behind LA’s wildfire devastation, exposing how political failures, broken systems, and poor leadership turned a preventable disaster into a full-blown crisis. From the incompetence that left reservoirs empty to the private firefighting efforts that saved his village while others burned, Rick explains why preparation and accountability matter more than empty ideology.He also unpacks the de...
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Rick Rubin dives deep into the essence of creativity, exploring its spiritual roots and the role of sensitivity in artistic expression. From his reflections on nature as the perfect balance to his thoughts on art as a universal language, Rick discusses how every piece of art — whether it’s music, painting, or writing — connects us to something greater.
He also touches on how the power of creativity transcends barriers, overcoming ...
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June 12, 2025 • 85 mins
In this wide-ranging conversation, Shane Smith presses Dr. Jordan B. Peterson on everything from academia’s groupthink and campus protests to benzo withdrawal, love in the face of terminal illness, and the geopolitical shadow of China. Peterson fires back—sometimes reflective, sometimes raw—laying out why he believes voluntary self-sacrifice, not power or pleasure, is the only antidote to cultural decay.
Along the way you’ll hear:...
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May 29, 2025 • 45 mins
John Sandweg, former acting director of ICE under President Obama, explains why both Republican and Democratic leaders have struggled to manage the border, why immigration reform keeps hitting roadblocks, and what real, workable solutions could actually look like. This conversation goes beyond politics — it reveals the human stories and the complex systems behind immigration.
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May 22, 2025 • 57 mins
John Perkins was once an economic hitman — a chief economist helping powerful corporations and governments entrap resource-rich countries in massive debt. Loans disguised as development aid ended up enriching the elite, while ordinary people paid the price.He shares the moment that made him question everything, the “death economy” fueled by short-term greed, and how China is now leading this global game with a new twist. This isn’t...
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